Lo4 essay

I am going to look at the genre of dark comedy. I will look at what the genre is all
about, how its portrayed, the audience, how its distributed, codes and
conventions, how its changed over time and what part it plays in socity. So lets
get started.
Dark comedy is often portrayed through the use of taboo subjects, they catch
you unaware by taking serious issues lightly and making jokes about them. They
use satiric or sarcastic language to change the way people would confront a
taboo subject for example Four Lions makes fun of the serious subject of
terrorism. The comedy works because it catches you unware, this means that
you dont get the predictability that can sometimes make regular comedy go
sour.
So who watches dark comedy? These films are watched most popular in Brittan
and Russia as dark comedy is has been a part of the culture for a long time. The
demographic tend to be more intelligent as some of the jokes can be complex
and multi layered, on the surface they just seem offensive but that is not always
the case. Dark comedy is enjoyed by People who dont get offended by what
they see as they actively consume media and know that it is a joke. Passive
media consumers often get offended because they dont see the joke and only
see the offensive side. The genre is aimed at older people I.E over 18s as it is
often quite graphic or vulgar, as I said before the genre is more popular in the Uk
and thus is aimed at Uk markets rather than the US who tend get easily
offended. This is of course a generalisation based on the fact that Dark Comedy
is less popular in the US.
Codes and conventions.
Dark comedy is a complex lattice of narrative, to turn a horrific scene into a
comedic masterpiece is tricky. You have to do it properly and to learn how this
comedy works, you have to look at the codes and conventions. These are the
common practises and applications of dark comedy.

The content of course differs from scene to scene but the concept behind said
content remains simple.

The use of situation comedy is very common,

writers take us to these
dark places and use the human condition as a catalyst for comedy. The way this
works is through relation, the writers put a character in a situation, for instance
Shaun Of The Dead, in this film the protagonist is a minimum wage Batchelor
who gets caught up in a fleshy Armageddon. In the film Shaun reacts in a way
that relates to the viewer because he is a normal bloke. Another common trait is
the use of Parody, as an example lets look at the Chanel 4 show Brass Eye. The
show is a mock news medley, they run a fake news show reporting on ridiculous
stories using dark comedy to create humor. The show Parodys the right wing
attitude, imitating shows like Fox News by being deliberately homophobic and
racist. Luckily, the amount of heroin I use is harmless. I inject about once a
month on a purely recreational basis. Fine. But what about other people less
stable, less educated, less middle-class than me? Builders or blacks for example.
If you're one of those, my advice to you is leave well alone. Good luck you can
see this quote from the shows presenter Chris Morris is taking the mick out of
right wing media.

The style of dark comedy is never completely fixed as you can see the difference
between a show like Black Adder and a film like Four Lions. The use of taboo
remains in almost every dark comedy piece though. The style is serious with
apocalyptic settings or terrorists plotting an attack but the ridiculous nature of
the dialog and plot makes it funny in to quote Four Lions with all due respect
Sessile, your dad eats moss this makes the conversation ridiculous and thus
creates humour. The thing to understand here is that the serious and the
ridiculous work in unison, without the serious aspects the ridiculousness and the
character based comedy wouldnt work and without the comedy the piece would
just be a thriller or a drama.

Defining the symbolic conventions of dark comedy is no easy job, they are
illusive and hard to spot never the less I think I have cracked it. You see the
shock factor is a key player in this game, the way dark comedy leaves you
shocked and surprised is symbolic of the current culture. The fact that dark
comedy often deals with heavy issues is a factor defining in society as a whole.
This can cause offence as dark comedy grapples with terrorism and paedophilia,
this though is symbolic of the human condition. We get caught up in cultural
medleys but the simple fact is if dark comedy doesnt deal with these issues who
will. This also shows the cultural conventions and codes of the genre, the way
dark comedy deals with subjects in a way that is relatable to society. Dark
comedy pokes fun at certain issues and makes them seem less troubling. Also
note the way this relation is used for comedic effect for example in Hot Fuzz the
phase want anything from the shop is used throughout and during the final gun
battle as dramatic one liner. This is funny because it is something the audience
would say on a day to day basis but it has been re-engineered to work as a
pseudo dramatic device. This increases audience engagement, a convention that
is key to cultural comedy.
The technical aspects of a dark comedy are often over looked. True they are
often not key as the comedy is created mainly by the character and audience
relations as I explained before. Pieces often have lower budget as the genre is
not massively popular, they often use whatever is standard at the time when it
comes to cameras and lighting. Most pieces keep the lighting natural to keep
immersion high as this contributes to comedy. However some films do use
special effects for dark comedy purposes, take Hot Fuzz for example the gore
and
blood is
over

excessive because
makes the
murders
funnier.

this

Sometimes
bad
effects are
used
deliberately to create comedic effect, an example of this is Monty Pythons How
to Not Be seen. In this the effects are crap because it is funnier that way,
otherwise it is too realistic and becomes disturbing.

So how do distribute this dark comody thing?

Well it is just a style of comedy so you can find it wherever there are budding
young comedy writers. Of course the obvious ones are TV with Shows like Brass
Eye and Films Like Four Lions and Hot Fuzz but recently dark comedy is less
popular with sensitive hegemonic media attacks on the genre, however there are

other places to find it. The internet is a breeding

ground for unrestricted creativity, Netflix as Im
sure your aware is an on demand video site
where you can stream your favourite films and TV
shows. As well as having things like Black Adder
the site also gives producers their own shows and
thus is bourn dark comedy shows like Bo Jack
Horseman. Theres other internet places too, on
YouTube people like Ashen who creates his own
content where he satirically reviewees tat or Lee
Hardcastle who creates his own gory
Claymations using stop motion. In the gaming
world there are works like the Stanley parable, a
narrative game where you can effect a story with
your choices. The narrator is a sarcastic bugger
who criticises your every move making the game
a dark comedy masterpiece.

So how has it changed overtime?

Because dark comedy is a mainly cultural thing
the way it is written and the way it works
changes to suite the time, for example Brass Eye did many different episodes
focusing on everything from drugs to paedophilia. These where issues in the
press at the time, we see them manipulated and used to create comedic effect.
As the issues change so do the dark comedies when Brass Eye was televised
terror was not an issue of large public interest, but after the events of 911 the
subject was of public interest. Thus comes into play four lions using terror to
create comedy, a few years mind after the major attack. I think thats for the
best to be honest, I love dark comedy but theres some issues you shouldnt
poke to soon. The audience has not change dramatically the same demographic
enjoy Monty Python as enjoy the Cornetto trilogy, the audience has however
expanded as I said before the UK and Russia have for a long time been the main
lovers of dark comedy but with US shows like Family Guy and Dexter it seems
that dark comedy has become popular over the Atlantic.
Redefinition is not apparent, the same use of standard linear narrative and style
is true of both Monty Python and Four Lions. The way this narrative is used has
changed a bit though pieces are more cinematic and plots are more developed,
this seems to be increasing to create more effective comedies. So you could say
it has been redefined but I think the term improved fits more.